The negligence of the medical staff at Ichilov Hospital caused the death of a fetus from asphyxiation, after the umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck and it died before birth, according to a claim for compensation filed against the hospital. "The doctor who did the ultrasound was horrified and said, 'This shouldn't have happened.'"
According to the lawsuit, this is a woman who was referred by a gynecologist at the HMO to the maternity emergency room in Ichilov at 40+6 weeks of pregnancy, when she could not be delivered due to time, after fetal monitoring was found to be abnormal.
Passing, illustration, photo: Getty Images
Through the Rubinstein-Yakirevitz law firm, which specializes in medical malpractice claims, the plaintiff claimed that an ultrasound examination was performed in the emergency room as well as additional monitoring, which the doctors deciphered as normal and discharged her home. Two days later, the plaintiff returned to the hospital due to a reduction in fetal movements, when he was found to have died in her womb with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times.
A doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology stated in an opinion attached to the lawsuit that if she had been referred to perform additional monitoring, as was required in this case, there would have been a great chance that the umbilical cord binding around the fetus' neck would have been discovered and saved. The expert emphasized that in the circumstances of the case, and contrary to medical practice, the hospital was not observing the umbilical cord during the ultrasound examination performed.
Adv. Shmuel Yakirvitz, Photo: Israel Hadari
"If the doctors at Ichilov had also performed an umbilical cord scan, it is likely that they would have identified the umbilical cord twists, which at this stage of pregnancy were not yet tightly bound."
The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff was discharged too quickly and out of frivolity on the part of the doctors, without paying attention to the situation and contrary to the advice of her gynecologist, who believed that there was distress to the fetus. Prosecutors also note that the doctor who performed the ultrasound, which found the fetus dead, was shocked and said: "This should not have happened." All the more so in light of the fact that she had been examined at the hospital two days earlier.
Ichilov Hospital said in response: "We have not yet received the statement of claim. When we accept, we will study and respond as is customary in court."
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